Tom Morello has dedicated ‘Secretariat’, a new song of his EP ‘Comandante’ to Eddie Van Halen.

The instrumental song, which is the centrepiece of the Rage Against The Machine guitarist’s new record, features a typically complex and accomplished guitar playing style in the vein of the late axeman who died earlier this month from cancer. Morello said after his passing that he was “our generation’s Mozart”.

Also on the five-song EP, Morello faces Slash in a guitar battle called ‘Interstate 80’. Morello also offers up his take on Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child’.

In other news, the musician recently soundtracked a short film on what would have been George Floyd‘s 47th birthday.

The film, titled No Justice, No Peace, hears Morello track ‘Marching On Ferguson’ over footage of Floyd’s murder, imagery of protests and news footage surrounding the deaths of Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, and Breonna Taylor. It spotlights the contrast between the racial injustice in the US and the Donald Trump administration’s position on it.

Morello has been busy elsewhere during the coronavirus crisis. In August, he announced a new book titled Whatever It Takes, which is out now. The hardback photo memoir, packed with rare photos, handwritten notes and commentary from Morello, chronicles the prolific guitarist throughout his storied music career.

“This is a book about a lifelong mission,” said Morello in a statement.

“A mission that more often can be felt rather than articulated. There are clues to the nature of the mission in the guitar riffs, the crazy solos, the lyrics, and in the shared sweat and solidarity of friends and comrades onstage and off.”